Digital marketing in the times of Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The widespread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Diseases 2019) has brought life, as we’ve lived it, to a standstill. The WHO (World Health Organization) has officially declared it a pandemic as it has affected people around the world. It’s spread has caused an adverse impact not only on life but all sectors across the globe. The natural flow of life has halted and the economy is in shambles.

If you own a digital marketing agency or work with one, you must probably be wondering how the pandemic has impacted the digital ecosystem and how the agencies will have to adapt because of it. Since everyone is quarantined and working from home, how long could companies carry on this way? We’ve given extensive thought to this matter, and are going to present the same in this piece.

Impact of Coronavirus

In this segment, we’re going to discuss the impact of coronavirus outbreak on the digital marketing industry.

• Uncertainty around ad spend: The incessant decline in the availability of goods may lead to managing departments curbing the advertising budget. If the goods available in the market are fewer, then obviously the companies will hold their hands from investing in ads.

Forecast around ad spend has mostly been vague, but it is assumed that ad spend will be down in the first half of the year, i.e. till June.

The New York Times has reported that there has been a slowdown in its advertising business surrounding the doubts around coronavirus. Even analysts from Needham, an independent investment banking and asset management firm, have lowered revenues for Facebook’s ads business till mid-June.

Foretelling the impact of COVID-19 on digital marketing is quite challenging as it is likely that due to its regular service nature, search activity will continue relentlessly.

However, a decrease in consumer demand for some products and services may result in fewer searches, thus hurting SEO, paid search and online display advertising, like for hotels and airlines. Since the sales aren’t occurring, the marketers may redirect the budget and suspend ad spend.

• Cancellation or delays of marketing events: There has been a withdrawal from events in the digital ecosystem. The virus outbreak has seen either delays or cancellations in many marketing events. The Snapchat Partner Summit 2020 was scheduled to be held on 2nd April but was later canceled citing coronavirus concerns. Events like Advertising Week Europe has been rescheduled to be held later in the year. Adobe Summit which typically attracts about 16k people has also been postponed to happen later this year.

The companies and institutions are avoiding large-scale gatherings. And so the virus has forced these and many other events to make a shift towards webinars and being hosted online. For example, Facebook Developer Conference was streamed online on May 5-6th.

Audience association and engagement through digital channels has picked pace in these COVID-19 affected times as advertisers and marketers still need to broadcast their message out to the world to maintain sales pipelines.

• A shift to e-commerce: In these uncertain times, most consumers are practicing social distancing, thus refraining from traditional shopping methods for basic goods like groceries, personal hygiene products, and medicines. This has caused an accelerated shift towards online shopping.

If the businesses manage to stay put during the tumbling economy and recoiling consumer purchasing power, then it will bring about a long-term boost in the e-commerce sector.

It is difficult to assume what items consumers may need at what time. The panic buying trend that has been seen around the world may lead to consumers stocking up on medicines, groceries, etc. if the spread of the virus continues.

There has also been a shift in consumer interest towards categories such as home appliances, fitness equipment, and hobbies.

Adapting to the situation

Though running marketing campaigns on various online platforms has seen a major dip in conversion and sales amidst the pandemic, there is room for change. You can adapt and still put yourself out there.

• Innovative strategies for consumer acquisition: Brands and agencies have found one of the oldest ways to reach their audience and customers – email marketing. Innovative email marketing campaigns explaining the preparedness of your brand to tackle this pandemic and promote awareness will keep the readers engaged.

Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Zoom are offering free video conferencing facilities and making great use of this situation. This could unfold in many ways, as their plan could further be developed to acquire users by getting them hooked to their platform and converting them as paid users later on.

• Cause based campaigns: These are emotional times. Creating a cause-based campaign to strike an emotional chord with the consumers can be fruitful for your business or brand. People may be emotional but they’re not oblivious to notice when brands genuinely care, or they’re leeching to the opportunity to get profits. Several brands have come up with interesting and innovative ideas to increase awareness among the masses in regards to the ongoing pandemic, while also leaving an impression on their minds that they care.

Audi separated it’s iconic four ceiling rings to encourage people to practice social distancing. Athletic brand Nike encouraged people in its latest campaign to play for “millions around the world” and stay at home. Streaming platform Netflix has also considered similar campaigns in which it urges people to wash hands for 20 seconds singing to tunes of its popular show.

• Social & OTT platforms to boost engagement: The pandemic has registered a surge in the use of social networking and OTT platforms around the globe. With people spending more time quarantined at their homes, these platforms are likely to get more engagement. OTT platforms like Netflix saw a rapid increase in consumers as 16 million people subscribed to this OTT platform in the first three months of the year. There are more than 3.8 billion users active on social media platforms, as of recent stats.

This is a great opportunity to reach out potential customers and audiences by advertising on these platforms. These platforms provide great scope to be connected with their audience and boom your presence which will open new avenues for growth once the industry gets back to normalcy.

Adapting as an agency

As an agency, there are 3 levels on which you will have to adapt, i.e., strategy, organization and communication.

• Strategy: The first step any digital marketing company takes towards their work is building strategy. It’s at the crux of digital marketing. There has been a noticeable change in the online demand and supply chain. A change has also taken over the lens from which agencies view their clients and themselves. This has led to a much-needed assessment, and agencies asking themselves question such as –

How the needs of the consumers have changed?

How has it affected their budget?

Are they still relevant to target?

Should they actively look for and target a new customer base?

Are they allowed to extend their services to those customers?

Agencies need to take a closer look at their customers and assess them on the above questions. This can help them to refine their strategy and modify their products/services and pricing around their new pain points.

The following tips are aimed to help agencies update their client strategy –

• • Have a dedicated page on the company website addressing the coronavirus situation and how the agency is dealing with it while also helping the customers. This should be visible throughout the website, i.e., on every page.
  • Run a campaign stating how the company is helping the customers. Track this data and make it visible on your website to provide a sense of transparency.
• Organization: Due to the incessant rise in “work from home” culture resulting from COVID-19, there has been a short-term change in the way organizations operate.

With the employers and employees working from home, it seems that the agencies are getting used to it. In most cases, it’s safe to assume that the net profit of agencies is between 5% to 30%. Though the profitability is low in this dire time, rent is not cheap as it is often that rent is the biggest part of your net profits. A big office has always been a catalyst to attract clients and it also helps the staff by giving them a feel-good environment.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus and global lockdown, everyone has been quarantined and working from home and client interaction has moved to video conferencing platforms such as Zoom. This has resulted in huge savings for companies in the form of what would have been rent. This saved money can now be invested in client and employee success.

Though not having an office brings its own set of challenges. Lack of office culture and community collaboration, lack of office equipment, etc. are some of the major issues that agencies are facing. The agency owners and employers need accountability from their employees and employees need upliftment. Few things that agencies can do are –

• • Time tracking the employees work
  • Daily check-ins with the team
  • Weekly departmental check-ins
  • Motivational video calls

You can also work these tips in your organization strategy if you’re outsourcing digital marketing services.

• Communication: The clients fancy in-person meetings at the offices. It also allows company executives to woo them with their soft-skills. This has taken a back seat now; given that everyone is working from home. Though that doesn’t mean that those meetings have ceased to exist, they’ve just shifted to video conferencing and still requires everyone to show up to these meetings just as usual.

Imagine being in a video call with your team members or clients and you can’t see the person due to poor lighting, see someone has dirty laundry in their background, someone is in a sweatshirt with messed up hair or there are disturbing noises in the background. All these aspects come across as unprofessional behavior and reflect negatively not only on the company but also on your personality.

Video conferencing has become an entirely new skill-set due to the given times so it requires mindfulness. Below are some tips to keep in mind –

• • Have correct lighting
  • Keep your background clean
  • Wear appropriate clothing
  • Ensure that your Wi-Fi is working for optimal connectivity
  • Be on time

Wrap up

There is no doubt that COVID-19 is the defining incident of 2020, and has made an indelible mark in history. The big question before us is how we’re going to cope with it and continue our businesses. We’ve tried to examine various aspects and effects of the virus on the digital marketing sector and how businesses and agencies have to adapt. Even these terrible times can be hopeful and may hide an opportunity in its garb to expand on. Digital marketing companies should also think about new and existing customers and employees and expand communication channels and adapt to the current times.

The magnitude of impact that the coronavirus has around the world almost feels surreal. We can only hope that we soon find a vaccine for this virus, and our lives get back to what it used to be before the outbreak. For the time being, stay home and stay safe.

References:

1. 3 ways digital marketing agencies will change due to COVID-19
2. What The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Means For Marketers/